Lac Leoninum with eczema and sibbling rivalry

by Markus Kuntosch

Case:
Leonie is a 4 year old girl who lives together with her 5 year old brother and her parents on a farm. From 3 months she had an eczema on her abdomen and on the parts covered by her diaper, which she still wears day and night. The dermatologist did a test, but couldn't confirm any allergy so he diagnosed mycosis and prescribed an ointment which didn’t cure.
Leonie is energetic, restless, headstrong, contrary and straightforward. One gets the impression of self-evident power. She dominates her elder brother. There's constant rivalry between them, says her mother. Her brother, for example, has a pony of his own and as soon as he wants to sit on it and go for a ride his sister comes, pushes him away and claims the pony for herself. Nobody else but her is allowed to sit on it. She always wants to be the center of attention. Her brother is more shy. He couldn't stand up against her. He withdraws and often reacts with a dry croupy cough.

Leonie likes to drink the fresh milk from their own cows which always leads to an slight aggravation of her eczema. She is warmblooded and often pulls off her shoes and socks and runs around barefoot. Her hair is tangled especially occipital.
In our clinic we have several small plastic animals to play with. Each time she came, she immediately selected a giraffe or a lion. She either throws the giraffe on the ground, tramples it under her feet, wants to sit on it or even puts the head of the giraffe in her own mouth or into the mouth of the lion, as if to bite it off. Her mother says that she likes all animals and always likes to help in the stable feeding the cows.

Analysis:
The symptoms pointed to sulphur (warm blooded, better uncovering feet, tangled occipital hair = “plica polonica”). The sibling rivalry and her color preference (red 8C) suggested calc-s. So I first tried Calcium sulphuricum C30/C200. There was a slight amelioration of her skin, but the behaviour towards her brother remained the same.
So I tried to understand the case on a deeper level. The constant rat race with her brother and her affinity to animals indicated an animal remedy. Her craving for milk as well as the aggravation suggested a milk remedy. The impression of self-evident power (stage 10), to be always in the center (stage 10) of attention as well as her aggressive playing with the giraffe pointed to lac leoninum. And her name was actually Leonie.

Follow up:
After Lac leoninum C 200 there was a slight aggravation for 3 days, then the eczema subsided completely. The change of behaviour towards her brother was striking. They stopped fighting the whole day. They now really like to play together, which seemed to be impossible before. Leonie always wanted to be first and on top, which isn't so important any more. She is more polite and the sullen impression of her face changed. After the second dose, one month later, she refused the diapers. For the last one and a half years she is fine. She still likes to drink milk, but when she drinks too much her skin gets a little dry.

About the author:
Markus Kuntosch, homeopath and general practitioner, has studied homeopathy since 1990. He joined Ulrich Welte and Herbert Sigwart in the Kandern clinic in the Black Forest, South Germany, in 1999. After a classical education in homeopathy he was mainly influenced in his homeopathic work by using the color preference and handwriting of patients and the methods of Jan Scholten and Rajan Sankaran.

I have to tell you that your information here is welcomed and a lot like my cat Alex and his relationship with my older cat Caesar. My homeopathic vet has prescribed this for Alex and as soon as it gets in we are going to try it if the other suggestions for Alex do not work.